This blog is about all things mom and toddler. You'll find art activities, sensory play, yummy food ideas, learning resources, and other fun toddler activities. I hope you have as much fun recreating these parts of my life as we did living them!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

A Year of Dates: January, February & March

A few months ago, I posted about a gift I gave to my husband for Christmas: A Year of Dates. As you might be able to tell, I haven't been that great about posting my monthly date ideas. Well, no more of that! I'm going to start posting every month from here on out! Since I'm a little behind, I'm going to put 3 months into this one post. (Also, I didn't take any pictures of my first two dates, so I didn't think they would make such a great post.) So without further adieu...

JANUARY: Dinner at a Restaurant

I don't have any pictures of this because we were basically the only ones in the restaurant and it felt weird to be taking pictures of us and our food. Anyways... To save some money, we bought a gift certificate from Restaurant.com, which allows you to buy a gift certificate for less than what it's worth. For example, we spent $15 on a gift certificate that was worth $25 to spend at the restaurant. It's a pretty cool idea. Just make sure you read the fine print before you purchase. Some restaurants only allow you to use the certificate on certain days or on certain items.

FEBRUARY: Bowling

We went to an bowling alley that has daily specials. On Sunday, they have $2 shoe rental plus $2 per game. Pretty good deal! Plus, they had cheap drinks and food which made it a really fun and frugal night.

MARCH: Taylor Guitar Factory Tour

Finally, pictures! We live about 2 hours away from San Diego, where the Taylor Guitar Factory is located. My husband is a wonderful guitar player and I thought it would be fun to tour a guitar making factory. Taylor Guitar Factory offers daily FREE tours, which is awesome. We made a day out of it, eating at a yummy vegetarian restaurant prior to the tour. On the way home, we took the top off our our Jeep and enjoyed the awesome California weather! It was a great, cheap, and relaxing day. If you have any factories in your area, guitar or otherwise, I definitely recommend checking them out. Who knows, they might even let you tour it for free!

Date Cost: Free (well, we did have to spend gas money to get there)

Time Spent: 1.5 hours

When to go: M-F

Lots of guitars you can take off the wall and play - this was just a small selection, there were a ton more!

Play Away!

Oh yeah, you get to wear a cool pass when you're on the tour.

Guitar necks waiting to find a body.

Wood that's waiting to be turned into a guitar.

Carved out front panels of guitar body.

This was a fun and interesting tour. Definitely a unique date idea. We were able to take home some free coasters that were made from the hole in the guitars and my husband got a new baseball cap. At the very least, my husband and I were able to spend a purely adult day together. And as much as we love our daughter, we were actually able to find lots of other things to talk about. Crazy, huh? :)

I'll be posting our April date soon! (I've been sick, so we've had to postpone. Hopefully we can go next weekend!)

Thanks Tricia! Well, my husband and I have been together for 7 years and have a 2 year old daughter and we're just starting the dates thing, too. Might as well start sometime! It's definitely something to look forward to, knowing that we have that one day a month just for us. :)

This is an awesome idea!!! I just told my husband the other day that our New Years Resolution is going to be once a month we go on a "Date Night". We to have been married for 7 years and have a 13, 7, and a 4 month old (all Girls):) So it will be nice to have some US time.

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About Olive's Mama

Hi there! My name is Natalie and I am a mama to a beautiful 1 1/2 year old little girl, Olive. I am married to my husband Jonathan and we live in sunny California. After my daughter turned one, I left my job as a teacher to stay home full-time. I have really gotten into crafting and art projects as a way to keep us busy as well as enrich my daughter. I have always loved creating art and crafting and I'm hoping this blog will give me motivation to do more of that! I love to be creative in many areas of my life and I hope you do, too! If you have any questions or comments, please let me know! :)